Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There are written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who is better known as Lewis Carroll. Both literary works have been incorporated into the story of Lost in many episodes, such as , , , , and . Alice's Adventures in Wonderland * When "Jack and Locke discuss Jack's 'hallucination' Locke advises that he should pursue his father's elusive image, symbolically comparing it to the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. Locke tells Jack to put it to rest, and consider the possibility that everything that is happening on the Island happens for a reason. He then tells Jack 'I looked into the eye of the Island, and what I saw ... was beautiful', referring to his encounter with the Monster in . . The title of the episode is of course also a reference to the novel. * 42 was used in numerous books by Carroll and is thought to hold special meaning for him. The first "Alice" book had 42 illustrations and Alice's age in "Through the Looking-Glass" is 7 years and six months (6 x 7 =42). * In , there are several "Alice" references: Ben releases a white rabbit to check the safety of crossing through the sonic fence which leads to another world (the world of the "Others"). Ben follows the rabbit, and that is like when Alice follows the white rabbit down the rabbit hole which leads to Wonderland. Ben's mother, Emily, is seen wearing a blue and white dress with matching headband and long blonde hair. This is very similar to the costuming in Tenniel's original illustrations and in Disney's film adaptation. * The Island is home to unusual creatures, such as polar bears. Wonderland is also home to odd creatures: extinct Dodo birds, mythical gryphons, etc. }} * In "Alice in Wonderland," a baby boy turns into a pig. Sawyer is convinced that Frank Duckett's spirit inhabits the body of a boar. * The Looking Glass station insignia (a white rabbit and watch) is a reference to this book. When Alice first sees the White Rabbit, she is struck by the fact that he is checking his watch. '...suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her....when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge. In another moment down went Alice after it...' in original. *A poster of The White Rabbit (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) is seen on the Aaron's bedroom door in Kate's house, while she had the dream of Claire. * When Jack is reading a bedtime story to Aaron, he is reading from Chapter II, Pool of Tears, "Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning?". * A Geronimo Jackson poster on the wall of the DHARMA cafeteria features Alice, the White Rabbit and the 'hookah-smoking caterpillar' on a toadstool. * In "Lighthouse", David is reading an annotated edition of Alice in Wonderland. ** Jack reminds David he used to read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to him when he was younger. ** Jack finds the key to David's mother's house under a ceramic white rabbit. ** The Lighthouse mirrors themselves can be viewed as a symbolic 'Looking Glass'. Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There * This is the title of the twenty-second episode of Season Three. . * In that episode, the reference to Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's literary work occurs when Charlie enters a DHARMA Initiative station called The Looking Glass. In "Through the Looking-Glass," Alice climbs through the mirror on her fireplace mantle and enters a world that resembles the real world (at first) but everything is backward. However, in "Alice in Wonderland," Alice follows the white rabbit down a hole into a "very deep well." Charlie is searching for the white rabbit (the DHARMA logo) and descends very deeply. Charlie, like Alice, doesn't consider an exit strategy: "In another moment down went Alice after it (the White Rabbit) never once considering how in the world she was to get out again." Charlie's concern with bravery and being a hero also parallels Alice's initial thoughts: "How brave they'll all think me at home!" * The story explores the theme of mirror opposites. Likewise in : Jack in great despair is a mirror opposite of Jack, the leader on the island. * Chess, a game played in several episodes: , , and most importantly, and , is the basis of the "Alice" sequel "Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There." Most of this entire work takes place as the characters move across a chessboard until Alice becomes queen. * The White Queen speaks of "living backwards" where she remembers best the events that haven't occurred yet. For example, they are currently punishing the King's Messenger, who hasn't yet had a trial, nor even committed the crime yet. This is not unlike Desmond's flashes. * Dreams are very important on the show. "Alice in Wonderland" is revealed to be Alice's dream and in "Through the Looking-Glass" Alice dreams of the Red King, who is dreaming of Alice, who is watching the Red King, etc.... *The passage of time in Through the Looking Glass is also significant. Alice comments that "'In our country...there is only one day at a time.' The Red Queen said 'That's a poor thin way of doing things. Now here we mostly have days and nights two or three at a time, and sometimes in the winter we take as many as five nights together - for warmth you know.'" This may have a relation to the passage of time on the island. *In the second book, Alice has two kittens that are black and white. Both kittens are descended from Dinah, Alice's cat in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". Alice blames her black cat for all the mischief caused in the book. But the white kitten is deemed completely innocent. * The flash sideways timeline can be seen as having mirror-like qualities with the original timeline. Therefore, this whole plot element can be attributed to the influence of Through The Looking Glass, with the original timeline being consistent with Alice's Adventures In Wonderland. The relationship between these timelines is the same as the relationship between both literary works. ** In the flash sideways timeline of , Jack talks about these cats "Kitty" and "Snowdrop" See Also: Literary works de:Alice im Wunderland fr:Alice au pays des merveilles pl:Alicja w Krainie Czarów pt:Alice no País das Maravilhas Category:Books Category:Cultural references Category:Items Category:Novels Category:LOST Book Club Category:Recurring Themes